You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?



29-9-2018 08:35:53  #1


Olivetti Lettera 32 ribbon only moves one way / remove bottom?

Hi everyone,

I've recently purchased an Olivetti Lettera 32 from 1966 if the TWDB is right. Its innerts were pretty dirty from something that was quite glueing and which I suppose to be fragments of old oil. I.e. it has been pretty heavyly oiled; at least not in the segment. With some aggressive chemicals I got rid of all the old glueing dirt that I was able to reach without tearing the typewriter apart, and most of the typewriter's functionality thereby restored itself.

Now however I have a problem. When typing, the ribbon will only ever move leftward. When I arrange the ribbon holders properly, I can move it manually rightwards, but there's a noticable resistance in the ribbon when I do this. If I let a little of the ribbon off the left spool, it however can easily be wound up manually and by typing. From that I conclude that there's some aggressive dirt in the left spool holder's mechanism that I can't reach with the toothbrush I usually use for this purpose.

So the question is: How do I remove the left spool holder so I can clean its underside? I suppose I have to remove the bottom cover somehow, but I did not yet figure out how I can do that. Ideas?

 

30-9-2018 04:15:45  #2


Re: Olivetti Lettera 32 ribbon only moves one way / remove bottom?

Thanks to this blog post I managed to remove both frame and bottom cover. However, even after brushing the ribbon spool mechanism with degreaser, the typewriter still does not properly transport the ribbon rightwards. I'm a little clueless now. Any help is appreciated, since manually rewinding the entire ribbon once it has gone through isn't much fun and essentially makes the machine unusable.

     Thread Starter
 

30-9-2018 04:55:55  #3


Re: Olivetti Lettera 32 ribbon only moves one way / remove bottom?

I resolved the problem. It turned out to be twofold: For one, the left ribbon holder's definitely was hindered by the old gummy oil fragments. The pin now rotates cleanly. The second issue was my bad: the nuts on the spool tops need to be properly fastened, lest they loosen while typing and stop transmitting the rotational force to the spool. In extreme cases, they even fall off while typing if not properly fastened.

If I understand correctly, the Lettera 32 originally came with metal spools, which you should not throw away, because Olivetti has special spools. However, on my machine there were only replacement spools from plastic. They appear to have bend over time and their sides are not entirely even. That makes it difficult to properly fasten the spool nuts, but it does work with some care. I hope I can get hold of Lettera 32 metal spools at some point to make this easier.

     Thread Starter
 

02-10-2018 20:24:50  #4


Re: Olivetti Lettera 32 ribbon only moves one way / remove bottom?

Speaking of not-quite compatible replacement spools, I've had two machines where the ribbon advanced freely with the cover up but mysteriously tightened up with the cover down until it jammed the vibrator in the up position.  The answer in both cases was that the spools rubbed the cover - in one case aided by extra thick sound insulation but also I think universal spools. For the machine with the thick insulation I shimmed the cover.

I sometimes solve problems by conversing with myself even if nobody answers, too. 

 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum